Sometimes, I wonder if people wonder if I will ever wonder if I should write more about my daily activities. ( By the way, LOL took you some time to understand it, didn't it?) And the answer is a definite NO. Life wouldn't be fun if everyone knows exactly who I am and what. These are here only to remind my future self of what I am today. For the better or worse, I do not know. But it's sure as hell to be an interesting read to me 10 years into the future. How far will maturity take me?
It is obvious this is not an interesting blog for anyone but myself. But to entertain others was never the point of this blog. When one writes for the self, no one really gives a damn. It is only when the writer writes for the readers will one get the money. Stephen King is right about this.
Writing sounds like a good part-time job. Especially the Fantasy genre ( genre is pronounced as zh-ahn-ruh where the "zh" is the same as the "s" in "pleasure"), because it seems like it has one of the best shelf life. Just look at Tolkien, who could still be reaping millions if he isn't dead. This is one type of story that readers do not require experience in anywhere or when to understand. And the best thing about Fantasy is that there is no limit to what you want to write! As long as the writer doesn't use too many deus ex machina (pronounced as dey-uhs ex mak-uh-nuh) that seem really ridiculous, anything is fine. People who die do not need to remain dead. Magic can do anything and be anything. And any way to do anything that you can ever imagine is fine.
One negative point about writing in this genre is that people tend to associate fiction with reality, and when things in the stories seem to much like the real thing, they don't look as cool anymore. But making them too absurd will result in the book being placed in the Humour category. So therefore, everything must be linked somehow. But that is okay, because magic can do anything. Well, everything except to create something from nothing, because that's reserved by the God of Christianity and most English-speakers will find it blasphemous if the main character has the power to create. But then, if you put some limits to it, it may be fine for your character. Hah! Maybe someday I will write about it. Or someone will steal this idea and write about it. Or someone will write about me writing about it. Or someone will write about me writing about someone writing about me. Or... okay enough of this.
Writing fantasy novels also require a huge fetish for details. Lots of details are needed to properly describe anything that do not exist in the real world, with the exception of old school stuff like elves and anything Tolkien has described. Fantasy writers really have to thank Tolkien for writing as much as he did to make modern writers' work so much easier. If someone writes "orc" everyone knows what it generally looks like. But if he writes about a creature named "Oguek" no one would know if it is a creature or a thing. And that is the difference Tolkien made.
But there must be some kind of problem with writing as a profession in Singapore. Rarely do I see Singaporean books being bought, compared to American books. That excludes the shitty series containing all sorts of ghost stories that some believe to be real. That's a real seller, to me, if you compare its sales to its quality. Or books by Catherine Lim, but that's cos her books are sometimes used as Literature textbooks.
I'm guessing the problem lies the lack of numbers. Too few people can write and are interested in writing as a profession.
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